John Swinney's election campaign lacked 'vision or big-picture thinking' Sturgeon says in her book's new foreword

By MICHAEL BLACKLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 19:58, 2 August 2026 | Updated: 19:58, 2 August 2026 Nicola Sturgeon has launched an attack on John Swinney’s Holyrood election campaign strategy. In a new foreword to her memoirs, the former First Minister condemned the approach taken ahead of May’s elections, when the SNP failed to secure the majority which Mr Swinney claimed would be a mandate for an independence referendum. She said the party’s pitch to voters had lacked ‘vision or big-picture thinking’ and that the wider campaign was ‘detached from the big issues bearing down on people’s lives’. In the new 6,000 word introduction to the paperback edition of her book Frankly, she also accused her estranged husband Peter Murrell of exposing her to ‘suspicion, humiliation and vilification’ after he was jailed for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP. It is the first time she has criticised Mr Swinney’s approach since she stepped down as an MSP. In extracts from the new section of the book published by the Scottish Sun, she also said that he was “lucky” the Greens didn’t field more candidates – as they could have made the SNP’s poorest showing in 19 years even worse. In a clear rebuke to the SNP adopting a more supportive stance to the oil and gas industry during the campaign, Ms Sturgeon warned it would be ‘a massive electoral blunder… for the SNP to soften its left-of-centre environmentalist credentials’. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘While Nicola Sturgeon has not been found guilty of criminality, she and John Swinney are guilty of enabling her husband’s crime spree. ‘It’s no surprise that she’s praising the extremists Greens given their shared belief in sky high taxes, gender self-ID nonsense and destroying Scotland’s oil and gas sector. ‘Having moved to London, where she won’t have to suffer SNP high taxes, she continues to plug her self-serving book with a staggering lack of self-awareness. The former First Minister has penned a new foreword to her memoirs ‘People across Scotland living with her toxic legacy of division deserve a break from this egotistical white noise.’ The original version of Frankly was released prior to the conclusion of Mr Murrell’s criminal case but the new version reflects on his sentencing. Condemning those who ‘were quick to point the finger of suspicion in my direction’, Ms Sturgeon writes: ‘To say I feel completely and utterly betrayed is an understatement. ‘It isn’t just that in committing these crimes he has lied to me and turned our lives upside down. That would be bad enough. ‘But he has also exposed me to suspicion, humiliation and vilification. It is clear that in everything he did, and for whatever reason, he did not stop to think about me at all.’ She said ‘despite my anger, it was hard not to feel concern for him’ as he had become ‘increasingly isolated, withdrawn and uncommunicative’ during the three year police investigation. Ms Sturgeon also reveals in the new version of the book that she is writing a political thriller about a female First Minister with a ‘dark’ secret past – but insists it is not autobiographical. She said it will be ‘a political thriller drawing on my insider knowledge of how governments actually work’, and goes on: ‘It involves a female First Minister with a dark, sad secret in her past. The tabloids shouldn’t get too excited – it is not another autobiography.’ Ms Sturgeon has faced heavy criticism for refusing to publish the 8,413 word statement she gave to police during Operation Branchform six weeks after she gave officers a ‘no comment’ interview. Last month, Tory MP David Davis used parliamentary privilege to claim that Ms Sturgeon lied about the Murrell case and stitched up Alex Salmond to hide the truth. He claimed that Ms Sturgeon was aware of the crimes being carried out by her estranged husband, and called for a full judicial inquiry into the matter. But Ms Sturgeon hit back by accusing Mr Davis of spreading lies and conspiracy theories about her. The SNP has been asked for comment on Ms Sturgeon’s criticism of the election strategy.